Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic control suspension apparatus including a multistep switch and a damping force controlling method thereof, and more particularly, to an electronic control suspension apparatus and a damping force controlling method thereof, which are capable of changing a damping force of a damper by just manipulating a multistep switch during driving.
Description of the Related Art
Generally, an electronic control suspension apparatus is a shock absorption apparatus including a shock absorber or a spring between a vehicle shaft and a vehicle frame. The electronic control suspension apparatus functions to alleviate a vertical vibration of a vehicle and alleviate a shock and a vibration applied from a road surface to thereby prevent the shock and the vibration from being transferred to a vehicle body.
An electronic control suspension apparatus for improving driving stability and ride comfort is disclosed in Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-1998-017112 and the like.
Existing electronic control suspension apparatuses, which are disclosed in Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-1998-017112 and the like, require various types of sensors, for example, two wheel-G sensors and three body-G sensors, so as to perform a continuous damping force control according to a behavior of a vehicle body. The various types of sensors need a complex installation work such as wiring connection and increase costs of a vehicle.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved electronic control suspension apparatus which is capable of preventing an increase in costs of a vehicle by eliminating sensors used for controlling a damping force of a damper and is capable of changing a damping force of a damper to a state desired by a driver.
When the damping force of the damper is soft, ride comfort is improved, but driving stability is deteriorated. When the damping force of the damper is hard, ride comfort is deteriorated, but driving stability is improved.
When a vehicle is driven in a soft mode for improved ride comfort according to a driver's tendency, an existing electronic control suspension apparatus has a limitation in that driving stability is deteriorated due to the priority of the ride comfort even when a vehicle is in an emergency state or an abnormal driving state.
In particular, an existing electronic control suspension apparatus allows a driver to change a damping force of a damper by changing a step of a damping force change knob with steps 1 to 10 disposed under a damper according to a driver's intention. However, in the existing electronic control suspension apparatus, it is impossible to change the step of the damping force change knob during driving, and it is necessary make a lot of effort because a vehicle needs to be placed on a maintenance lift so as to change the damping force.